Your City's Ex-Pats -- Where Did They Go?

So I'm reading the "Random" thread and I see that Dan made a reference to the "Buffalo Diaspora". That got me to thinking -- many American cities, particularly Northeast/Midwest Rust Belt cities, have large numbers of ex-patriots who've moved to new environs.

Dan has mentioned in other threads that practically half of the populace of the Charlotte metro area has some kind of Buffalo connection; South Florida is well-known for large numbers of New Yorkers; and I seem to remember lots of Detroiters embarking for Houston as a kid. This isn't simply a big-city phenomenon, either: I'm sure that many mid-size and small cities have their own diasporas, too.

I was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia -- cheek to jowl with Ft. Benning, "Home of the Infantry". I imagine a lot of folks there join the military or marry a soldier and we disperse to military bases all over, finally settling wherever we were last stationed when retirement rolls around. For me, California is my last "duty station". Mr. Zone hopes to arrange one more duty station for himeself before he drops his retirement papers in a couple of years or thereabouts. I am not saying that I plan on living here the rest of my life but I also wouldn't be surprised if I did.

Louisville diaspora?

Originally posted by Michele Zone

I was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia -- cheek to jowl with Ft. Benning, "Home of the Infantry". I imagine a lot of folks there join the military or marry a soldier and we disperse to military bases all over, finally settling wherever we were last stationed when retirement rolls around. For me, California is my last "duty station". Mr. Zone hopes to arrange one more duty station for himeself before he drops his retirement papers in a couple of years or thereabouts. I am not saying that I plan on living here the rest of my life but I also wouldn't be surprised if I did.

People are loath to leave Louisville, but hard times and "structural readjustment" that hit my generation out of high school (Class of '77) meant alot of out-migration. Going to a high school reunion in, say, 87, it seemed most folks went south....Florida and Texas and Atlanta. I was the furthest....the Bay Area of Cali.

I ended up in Ohio, where there ALOT of Kentucky folk, but most from Appalachia. I do two co-workers from Louisville, though...

As for my previous home, lots of people head to alberta to work construction and in the oil patch.

Odd thing happened today, the waitress at the restaurant where my pictures are going to be hung is from NB, and we actually know people in common. One of the other tenants in my building is also from NB. Seems like lots of NB'ers head "down the road" and end up in TO.

People from the north shore of NB (Bathurst, Campbellton, Dalhousie) head to Moncton. Reason, it is a bilingual city and pretty close to home. Plus you can earn $9 an hour there. (seriously)

Too lazy to beat myself up for being to lazy to beat myself up for being too lazy to... well you get the point....

There's a HUGE number of Pennsylvania natives in metro DC....There has got to be more people here from Pennsylvania than from any other state, including Virginia and Maryland. Lots of people from PA in Raleigh-Durham also (where I used to live)...Funny, growing up in rust belt Ohio, many people back there had PA roots, including my father...The Pennsylvania diaspora goes back at least to the Great Depression.

Memphians move to Atlanta--especially if they're Jewish and went to Emory. Owing to its location, other destinations of choice for Memphians are suburban St. Louis or Nashville (most middle-or-upper-middle class Memphians recognize Ladue, Chesterfield, or Belle Meade, and speak of them in the same reverent tones Chicagoans use for Highland Park or Lake Forest). Well-off Memphians will also take weekend shopping trips to St. Louis, Nashville, or Atlanta. Many also move to Chicago or Los Angeles. Of course, Memphis is doing a better job now than, say, ten to fifteen years ago at keeping its young population. Midtown and (especially) downtown are booming with new retail and residential construction.

Omahans don't tend to leave Omaha. But the young people that do are moving to California, Atlanta, Dallas or Chicago. I am an anomaly that moved to the east coast. I've only met one other native Omahan since I've been Baltimore.

I am recognizing that the voice inside my head
is urging me to be myself but never follow someone else
Because opinions are like voices we all have a different kind". --Q-Tip

Hoosiers tend to head north to Chicago, hence the large number of cars with Indiana dealer stickers and Illinois plates jamming I-65 on Sunday evenings....There are also a lot of snowbirds who end up staying in Florida. Lots of people graduate, leave as quickly as possible, swear they're never going to come back except for holidays, then end up back home again in Indiana a few years later when they have kids. I don't get it.

toronto is the biggest destination for anglo-montrealers and vancouver comes in second. but there are legions of expat montrealers throughout canada and even the united states, most of whom left in the 1970s and 80s.

for young francophone montrealers, vancouver seems to be a big draw, maybe for its climate or maybe simply because it's on the other side of the continent and so laid-back. there is not a significant community of expat franco montrealers, though, since this city is the hub for french-speaking canada.

Will the Last Person To Leave Toledo Please Turn Off The Lights!

Folks from Toledo and NW Ohio that I have known to skip town have mostly gone to the area slightly south of Tampa / St. Pete. A few guys I worked with years ago retired in Plant City, FL. A good (young) friend just moved a couple weeks ago to Lakeland, FL.

Younger folks I have known that skipped T-Town moved to Chicago. An older retired couple I know moved to Houghton Lake, MI.......in the near northern part of Michigan's lower peninsula.

Odd coincidence: My ex-wife is involved with the University of Toledo's Urban Affairs Center. They are currently studying the "Brain Drain" from UT......recent graduates moving to "anyplace but Toledo".

People from Philly move to the suburbs or to the Jersey Shore. Occasionally they move to Delaware (still the suburbs). Otherwise they move to the west coast of Florida or around Ft. Lauderdale. Some people head to NYC for better fortunes but for the last few years in a row Philly's been getting more NYC transplants than vice-versa. I also had a bunch of friends move to Chicago a few years back. Chicago and NYC are really the only "acceptable" places to move to if you live in Philly. If you want to see people scowl tell them you're moving to Boston, DC, or LA.

Indeed you can usually tell when the concepts of democracy and citizenship are weakening. There is an increase in the role of charity and in the worship of volunteerism. These represent the élite citizen's imitation of noblesse oblige; that is, of pretending to be aristocrats or oligarchs, as opposed to being citizens.